Elephant Butte Irrigation District

Much of the snowpack in northern New Mexico and southern Colorado is already gone, but it seems to be blowing away in the wind rather than melting into the state’s streams and rivers. That has water managers scrambling to cope with the state’s fourth consecutive very dry year.

Farmers who rely on runoff from winter snowfall are worried about a predicted weather pattern of warmer, drier winter weather in New Mexico and southern Colorado. Farmers in southern New Mexico rely on the runoff once it reaches Elephant Butte Lake in the spring and summer. Right now, there's not much water stored in reservoirs that's designated for the Elephant Butte Irrigation District.

The Rio Grande from south of Truth or Consequences to El Paso, Texas, could look more like a natural river and less like a canal a decade from now, with occasional flooding and plans to restore aquatic hab

Rain last summer and snow this winter have improved the odds for a better water year along the Rio Grande in southern New Mexico. Elephant Butte Irrigation District water engineer Phil King said farmers will likely get 9 acre-inches of water to start the season--about two-thirds of the 14 acre-inches they received during the entire season last year.